6 new long-haul flights taking off from SFO

New flights, fares to faraway places

Singapore Airlines' Airbus A350-900ULR outfitted with only business & premium economy seats is coming to SFO

Singapore Airlines' Airbus A350-900ULR outfitted with only business & premium economy seats is coming to SFO

Photo: Singapore Airlines

Photo: Singapore Airlines

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Singapore Airlines' Airbus A350-900ULR outfitted with only business & premium economy seats is coming to SFO

Singapore Airlines' Airbus A350-900ULR outfitted with only business & premium economy seats is coming to SFO

Photo: Singapore Airlines

6 new long-haul flights taking off from SFO

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Ready to fly to far away places? Then San Francisco International Airport is where you can take off this fall. Three airlines are bringing new flights or additional frequencies to five transpacific and transatlantic routes out of SFO by the end of November.

New service usually means lower fares and more opportunities to redeem points or miles, so check these out.

Here's a quick summary of the new flights and fares:

To Singapore, United will add a second daily departure on October 28, using a Dreamliner 787-9 for both of its SFO-SIN flights. An 11:55 a.m. departure will arrive in Singapore at 8:15 p.m., and a 10:40 p.m. flight is scheduled to get to Singapore at 6:50 a.m. (On October 27, United will discontinue its year-old Los Angeles-Singapore non-stop route, but Singapore Airlines is due to kick off its own new LAX-SIN daily non-stops in early November- and we'll be on the inaugural so stay tuned for a review!) Fares: We found economy class roundtrips in January as low at $775 on United. Business class is about $4,500.

Speaking of Singapore, on November 28, Singapore Airlines will use a new A350-900ULR (Ultra Long Range) to increase non-stop service to San Francisco from seven flights a week to 10. The new flight will depart SFO on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 8:10 p.m., arriving in Singapore at 5:40 a.m. (The airline will also continue its existing daily SFO-SIN one-stop flights via Hong Kong.) The airline's regular daily SFO-SIN non-stops use an A350-900, not the new ULR version. The regular A350-900s have a three-class configuration, with 42 business class seats, 24 in premium economy and 187 in regular economy. The long-range versions (like the one that launched Newark-Singapore nonstops last week, and will add 3x a week at SFO) have no regular economy seating – just 67 seats in business class and 94 in premium economy. Fares: In January, economy class is about $850 roundtrip on SIA; premium economy roundtrips are going for just $1,448; business class is about $4,250. Which one would you fly?

To Frankfurt, United will continue to offer two daily departures through the winter instead of cutting back to one. The mid-afternoon departure will use a 777-300ER, and the evening flight from SFO will switch from a 777-200ER to a 787-9. (United's Star Alliance partner Lufthansa also operates two flights a day in the SFO-Germany market, and it recently decided to discontinue its San Jose-Frankfurt non-stops as of October 27.) Fares: January roundtrip on both United and Lufthansa are going for about $1,200 in economy and $5,000 in business class. Premium economy on Lufthansa is running about $2,000 roundtrip.

Photo: Julius Silver / Pixabay

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United will add a new Pacific route on October 30, kicking off service from SFO to Papeete, Tahiti in French Polynesia, operating three flights a week with a 787-8. The seasonal service will operate through the end of March. (United is going up against a French low-cost carrier called French Bee, which started flying earlier this year from Paris Orly to Papeete via a stop in San Francisco, using an Airbus A350-900. French Bee is slated to cut back from three flights a week to two on October 30.) Fares: January roundtrips between SFO and PPT are now as cheap as $623 round trip. Business class is around $5,000.

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Also on October 28, United is due to resume service on the San Francisco-Auckland, New Zealand route, offering daily flights with a 777-300ER. (The route is also served once a day by United's joint venture partner Air New Zealand.) United said earlier this year that it plans to extend its SFO-Auckland service to year-round operation in 2019 instead of sticking with a seasonal schedule. In April 2019, United plans to cut back frequencies on the route from daily to three flights a week, and to change aircraft from a 777-300ER to a 777-200ER from April through October. Fares: We found fares as cheap as $1,050 in economy class in late January and February on SFO-AKL; business class is about $7,000. Premium Economy on Air New Zealand is about $3,200.

Effective October 31, the low-cost European carrier Level will start flying from SFO twice a week to Barcelona, using a two-class, 288-passenger A330-200. It will be the only non-stop service between SFO and Barcelona. Level had been flying out of Oakland to Barcelona, where it was competing against Norwegian, but IAG decided to move it to SFO, where sister company Iberia last spring introduced non-stop service to Madrid. Level is a subsidiary of International Airlines Group (IAG), which owns British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus. Fares: In January, roundtrips between SFO and BCN are an astoundingly low $311 roundtrip (plus plenty of fees); premium economy is as low as $930-- a great value. Level does not offer a first class section.